Shelves and the like have conventionally been supported on slotted uprights or rails by utilizing support brackets which employ a plurality of vertically-spaced, L-shaped hooks which project through a plurality of spaced slots in the upright. While this basic bracket-and-upright structure cooperates in a desirable manner to provide both strength and convenience of assembly, nevertheless this structure has proven undesirable in some instances. One of the primary disadvantages of this structure is the difficulty in insuring that the support brackets are securely seated on the upright. In many instances the support brackets are improperly seated and, in time, may become accidentally dislodged due to application of an upward external force thereto. This is obviously undesirable.
In an attempt to eliminate this disadvantage, numerous brackets and lock assemblies have been devised which provide for automatic locking of the furniture component to the upright when the furniture component is properly seated on the upright.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,222,542, issued on Sep. 16, 1980 to the Assignee of the present invention, discloses a one-piece load bearing support bracket fixed to an end panel of a furniture component for automatically positively locking to an upright when properly seated to prevent the accidental upward movement of the furniture component relative to the upright. While the one-piece support bracket has proven satisfactory with respect to its ability to lock to the upright and prevent accidental dislodging, nevertheless the support bracket possesses features which have made its use somewhat cumbersome. For example, during a multi-step manufacturing process, the load bearing support bracket is first stamped from a flat sheet of high-strength alloy steel, and then suitably bent so as to form a base and a hook plate. During the assembly process, the support bracket requires the use of screws to fixedly attach the support bracket to an end panel. Further, removal of an installed furniture component such as a cabinet having a properly locked support bracket fixedly secured thereto requires the use of a tool such as a screwdriver or the like, and requires gaining access to the locked support bracket from within the cabinet through a cutout in the end panel.
Lock assemblies serve the same function of automatically locking a furniture component to an upright when properly seated to prevent accidental upward movement. One conventional non-load bearing passive lock assembly includes a metal base plate adhesively bonded to, or otherwise conventionally mounted in a corresponding recess in a side surface of an end panel adjacent a rear edge thereof. The metal base plate includes a horizontally extending slot therethrough which slidably retains an elongate locking tab extending rearwardly past the rear edge of the end panel. The locking tab is urged rearwardly by a spring part interposed between a forward end of the locking tab and an end wall of the slot. The locking tab is automatically urged into a slot of the upright when a load bearing support bracket secured to the end panel is properly seated on the upright. When properly engaged with a slot of the upright, the locking tab prevents L-shaped hooks on the support bracket from becoming accidentally dislodged due to the application of an upward external force thereto. The above described assembly unnecessarily requires multiple components, adds unnecessary weight to the furniture component, and requires a time consuming mounting procedure which can only effectively be performed as part of a manufacturing process.
Another conventional lock assembly includes a plastic one-piece, non-load bearing, passive lock which serves the same function mentioned above, and a load bearing support bracket which retains the lock in a slot formed in an end panel. In particular, an end panel is provided with a horizontally extending T-shaped slot or recess. The recess includes a vertical recess portion which communicates with a rear edge of the end panel and a horizontal recess portion which communicates with a side surface of the end panel. The T-shaped recess slidably receives therein the one-piece lock having a flat base part positioned within the vertical recess portion. The base part includes a tab integrally formed in, and extending rearwardly from a central portion of a rear edge of the base part. The tab and rear edge cooperate to form a shoulder portion of the lock. The base part also includes a spring part integrally formed in, and extending forwardly from a forward edge of the base part. A narrow slot-like guide part extends transversely from the base part within the horizontal recess portion of the T-shaped recess. The lock is retained within the recess by at least a portion of a conventional load bearing support bracket secured to the rear edge of the end panel. The support bracket extends across a portion of the T-shaped recess and bears against the shoulder portion of the lock which is urged rearwardly by the spring part.
During manufacturing, the aforementioned lock is loosely inserted into the T-shaped recess before the support bracket is mounted to the end panel using screws or the like. The support bracket contacts the shoulder portion of the lock and urges the lock at least partially forwardly against the action of the spring part to thus load the spring part and retain the lock within the recess. During installation, the tab, extending rearwardly past the support bracket, is automatically urged into positive locking engagement with a slot of the upright when the load bearing support bracket is properly seated on the upright.
The removal of an installed furniture component having the above lock properly engaged with the upright requires that the lock be urged forwardly to disengage the tab from the slot of the upright. During removal, care must be taken not to damage the plastic spring part by urging the lock too far forward and thus overly compressing the spring part. If damaged, the support bracket must unfortunately be removed from the end panel before replacing the damaged lock.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved one-piece non-load bearing passive lock for releasably securing an end panel assembly to a slotted upright of a wall panel assembly.
More specifically, the one-piece lock in a preferred embodiment of the present invention includes a planar rectangular base part having an aperture extending therethrough. A spring part is formed at a first end edge of the base part. A locking tab is formed at a second end edge of the base part opposite the first end edge. The base part, spring part and locking tab are each oriented in the same plane. A hollow guide part is aligned with the aperture and extends transversely from a first surface of the base part. A cantilevered arm extends transversely within the hollow guide part and is integrally joined to a wall of the guide part. A planar spring compression limiting part extends at least partially over the spring part from the wall of the guide part. A retaining pin extends longitudinally through the hollow guide part and the aperture from a free end of the arm in a direction transverse to the base part, and the retaining pin has a free end extending beyond a second surface of the base part opposite to the first surface.
It is another object of the present invention is to provide an end panel assembly for lockingly supporting a furniture component to an upright in a cantilevered relationship. More specifically, the end panel assembly includes a planar end panel forming a portion of the furniture component and having a T-shaped recess formed therein. The recess has a vertical recess portion which communicates with a rear end edge of the end panel, a horizontal recess portion communicates with a side surface of the end panel, and a slotted portion is intermediately positioned within an inner wall of the vertical recess portion. A support bracket is fixedly secured to the rear end edge of the end panel above the T-shaped recess and has a plurality of rearwardly-projecting downwardly-opening load-supporting L-shaped hooks engageable with the upright. A one-piece locking member is slidably retained within the recess and includes a planar base part slidably disposed within the vertical recess portion. An intermediate aperture extends transversely extending the base part. A spring part is formed in a first end edge of the base part and extends forwardly within the vertical recess portion. A locking tab is formed in a second end edge of the base part and extends rearwardly outside of the vertical recess portion. A hollow guide part is aligned with the aperture and extends within the horizontal recess portion transversely from the base part. A cantilevered arm extends transversely within the aperture from a wall of the guide part. A spring compression limiting part extends at least partially over the spring part from the wall within the horizontal recess. A retaining pin extends longitudinally through the aperture from a free end of the cantilevered arm, and the retaining pin has a free end thereof extending into the slotted portion of the recess.
An advantageous feature of the lock of the present invention is that, in one step, it can be inserted into the T-shaped recess of the end panel quickly and easily as part of an on-site furniture component installation procedure.
A further advantageous feature of the lock according to the present invention is that it is independently retained within the slotted portion of the recess by a retaining pin extending from a cantilevered arm.
Still a further advantageous feature of the lock of the present invention is that a spring compression limiting part is provided which prevents a spring part from being overly compressed, and thus damaged.
Another advantageous feature of the lock of the present invention is that it can be easily and quickly replaced without the removal other components of the end panel assembly.
Other objects and purposes of the present invention will be apparent to persons familiar with structures of this general type upon reading the following specification and inspecting the accompanying drawings.